Joseph, ‘The Explainer of Hidden Things’

Written by Rabbi Elliott Karstadt — 15 December 2023

In this week’s parashah, Joseph has a change of name – a name change that is often not referred to. The change from Avram to Abraham, and from Jacob to Israel – these are often cited as significant moments of transformation. Joseph’s moment goes largely unnoticed.

Maybe it is because this change of name does not come from God as Abraham’s and Jacob’s did, but from Pharaoh, the king of Egypt and Joseph’s new employer.

Pharaoh renames Joseph with the name Tzaph’nat Pa’neach – very much an Egyptian name, supposedly meaning ‘The Explainer of Hidden Things’. The medieval commentator Rashbam explains this as customary when appointing someone to a position of authority in that context – that they would a name appropriate to their position. Joseph’s role in Pharaoh’s court has been to draw out the hidden meanings of Pharaoh’s dreams, and to use that information to avert the famine that his brothers do end up being caught up in back in his homeland.

But this new name of Joseph’s Tzaph’nat Pa’neach, not only tells us about his new position in Egyptian politics. It is also a fitting name for him in other areas of life. Joseph reads meaning into so much in life that might otherwise be considered to be hidden.

And this is what I think makes Joseph such a modern character in the Torah, particularly compared to his forebears. Abraham Isaac and Jacob – these are all characters who have that very traditional way of relating to God – that simple faith and acceptance of God’s existence and of a world ordered and given meaning by God. Joseph never has this luxury – never given any reason to believe he lived in such a world. First he is visited by dreams that seem to suggest that his brothers will bow down to him and serve him, and then his brothers plot to kill him. Instead of killing him they sell him into slavery. Not much better, but at least he is alive. Then he is framed for a crime by the wife of the man who buys him as a slave in Egypt, and he is thrown into prison.

It is in prison that he gets his big break, when he is called upon to interpret the dreams of the baker and the butler. And one might expect that he says ‘sure, I can interpret those dreams!’ But no, instead he says, ‘Surely God can give meaning to those dreams.’ Joseph, who has never had a face-to-face conversation with God – has never wrestled with divine beings like his father Jacob – he is the one who attributes his abilities and his meaning-making to God.

Joseph brings God and meaning into his life, without having the certainty and the clarity of his ancestors. Despite the fact of the terrible fate that he suffers, he never stops believing that there is meaning to his life. It is just he who has to provide that meaning – to reach for God, to pull the divine into his life – rather than having it imposed upon him from outside.

Even when he is confronting his brothers as the ruler of Egypt in next week’s parashah, he forgives them, telling them

וְעַתָּ֣ה ׀ אַל־תֵּעָ֣צְב֗וּ וְאַל־יִ֙חַר֙ בְּעֵ֣ינֵיכֶ֔ם כִּֽי־מְכַרְתֶּ֥ם אֹתִ֖י הֵ֑נָּה

Joseph instructs his brothers not to reprimand themselves for the way they sold him into slavery, for in that hideous act he detects God’s plan:

כִּ֣י לְמִֽחְיָ֔ה שְׁלָחַ֥נִי אֱלֹהִ֖ים לִפְנֵיכֶֽם׃

For, he says, it was to save life that God has sent me ahead of you.

Having reached the pinnacle of global society of his time, Joseph remains humble enough to reach beyond himself for meaning, and for an understanding of the way in which his life has turned out. As a ruler of Egypt, he detects a hand at work stronger than his own, guiding him, giving him purpose. That purpose is not to seek vengeance against his brothers, but to use the position in which he finds himself to do good. To recognise the positive opportunities in his life – the freedom he still has to use his power for good.

We inhabit a world that seems to pile on cruelties, that often feels like it is out of our control, that sometimes makes us wonder if there is any meaning at all. Joseph’s approach to life is one that might teach us how to find our own meaning in life – to see the hidden ways of God at work in the way things turn out – to the positive in life, that hakarat hatov of which the rabbis spoke – the recognition of the good — both the things that we experience as good for ourselves, and the good ways in which we can still act towards one another.

The rest that we might afford ourselves on Shabbat can give us an opportunity to take a mini-snapshot of our lives, to reflect for just a few moments on that snapshot. And if we do that this Shabbat, I hope that we might find the strength, like Joseph, to recognise the good in our lives, to see where we can make a positive impact on the lives of others, and to bring meaning to some of the chaos.

Shabbat Shalom